Establishment Theory

Our nation’s founders understood that the power bestowed onto government tends to grow towards tyranny. To limit this effect they gave us our three branches of government with checks and balances to restrain any one branch from accumulating too much power. This system, while effective, does not fully address the rise of the bureaucratic fourth branch populated by unelected government employees who are responsible for the day to day operation of government at all levels. Once an agency is established it begins its inexorable growth.

There are 542 elected offices in the federal government combined with 9 supreme court justices for 551 federal offices in the three branches. There are approximately 20 million people who receive paychecks from the federal government. From Dr. Faucci to Joe the mailman, If all the federal employees were a country they would be 65 th largest (out of 210) with a population that rivals Romania. Twelve percent of our nation’s workforce gets paid WITH tax dollars.

By Brent Regan